Ontario's 2-step plan to⬇️ABSENTEEISM in high schoolers WITHOUT ASKING what's wrong.

Their "fix" ?
1/ Marks for attendance & participation
2/ High stakes exams

This FAILS TEENS b/c it doesn't address CAUSES
🧸TREATMENTS should match the DIAGNOSIS

@tdsb.on.ca

🎧8 min
www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

How to Be an Effective Anti-Vaccine Activist Just follow three simple rules. The third one is the hardest.

How to Be an Effective Anti-Vaxxer

3 STEPS:
1/ Lie about vaccine SAFETY
2/ Lie about vaccine EFFICACY
3/ Suppress studies proving vaccines are safe & effective

Anyone can do Steps 1 & 2, but RFK Jr. does Step 3
...leaving kids paying the price

substack.com/@pauloffit/n...

Hospitalization rates for illnesses like COVID, flu have doubled since pre-pandemic, report finds | CBC News Striking new data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) shows hospitalization rates for vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases more than doubled in 2024, compared to pre-pandemic...

In 2024, only 1 in 4 Canadian adults was vaxed to COVID-19

Patient: "I'm done with those shots"

Me: But the virus isn't done with us...

Thanks to @LaurenPelley for the fine reporting

www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

Government secrecy causes misery & costs lives.

Ontarians deserve better.

Iris Gorfinkel: Doug Ford’s push for secrecy is putting the health of Ontarians at risk Government secrecy causes misery and costs lives. Ontario’s most effective watchdogs outside government — citizens, journalists and researchers — depend on FOI to drag hidden policies into the light.

Dear Premier Ford,

Legalizing government secrecy is a slippery slope.

It undermines media
...& blinds Ontarians to where their tax dollars are going.

Laws that erode transparency also invite government corruption.

Signed.

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... via @thestar.com

One of Ontario's doctors has taken the time to write an opinion piece for the Toronto Star about Doug Ford's effort to hide data that can be used to make decisions about our health system.

She's asking us to take the time to comment on the article. Let's do it!
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Iris Gorfinkel: Doug Ford’s push for secrecy is putting the health of Ontarians at risk Government secrecy causes misery and costs lives. Ontario’s most effective watchdogs outside government — citizens, journalists and researchers — depend on FOI to drag hidden policies into the light.

Government secrecy turns premiers into kings.

It’s a slippery slope that undermines media & researchers' goals to monitor value for taxpayer money.

Laws should SOLIDIFY transparency, not erode it.

Don't remain silent
➡️Comment directly to the Toronto Star

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Legalizing government secrecy turns premiers into kings.

It’s a slippery slope that undermines the ability of communities, the media & researchers to monitor safety, equity and value for taxpayer money.

Laws should SOLIDIFY transparency, not ERODE it.

It’s Ontarians who bear the consequences when governments grant themselves the power to be unaccountable.

It’s Ontarians who endure longer ER and surgical wait times.

It’s Ontarians who are blindfolded to where tax dollars go when the actions of elected officials are deliberately hidden.

🙈 Ontario's Bill 97 is an attempt to FULLY EXEMPT @FordNation & all of his underlings from Freedom of Information.

It asks Ontarians to trust a system they can't verify.

Harsh truths galvanize better laws.
They prevent misery & save lives.

@thestar.com

April 12, 1980. "Today is the day it all begins".
46 years ago today at 2:30 pm in St. John's NL, Terry Fox started to run across the country.
"I touched the ocean before I left, up this old dirt road that was impossible to run on."
via @terryfoxfoundation.bsky.social

Tyrants destroy truth in 4 stages:

1/ Blur reality
Flood the zone with “alternate facts"

2/ Destroy trust
Smear media & science as "corrupt"

3/ Replace facts with loyalty
Truth is what the Leader says

4/ Criminalize truth-telling
Jail protesters

@timothysnyder.bsky.social

Trump administration proposes massive budget cuts to science The White House budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing

An 'EXTINCTION-LEVEL EVENT' for SCIENCE

Proposed U.S. Cuts -
🔪 100% NIH Centre on Minority Health
🔪 100% NIH International Research
🔪 100% NIH Alternative Medicine
🔪 50% National Science Foundation
🔪 50% Environmental Protection Agency

Dark times...

www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

What brought my patient to tears wasn't her breathing.

It was having to return to an ER that's chronically
understaffed, underfunded & stretched to the max

...back to another dehumanizing wait.

How can I work without reliably funded backup?

@thestar.com @dralandrummond.bsky.social

Iris Gorfinkel: Doug Ford’s 2026 budget is designed to make ER wait-times worse According to the province’s own budget watchdog, today’s underfunding will leave health programs short by $3.4 billion this year, $6.4 billion next year and a whopping $9.6 billion in 2027-28.

Ontario's 2026 Budget is fiscal policy designed to fail.

What's needed is a SUSTAINED commitment to public health

...not a one-off 'top-up' that falls short

Doug Ford's 2026 budget will make ER wait-times worse

@onthospitalassn.bsky.social @thestar.com
www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

COVID probably killed 150,000 more people in its first two years than official U.S. tolls show We have severely undercounted the number of COVID deaths, scientists say

NOTES FOR A FUTURE PANDEMIC

😰 During the first 2 yrs of the pandemic 1 in 5 deaths went UNREPORTED

That comes to >150,000 lost lives

Most were among the most vulnerable
-Low income
-Less educated
-Hispanic

www.scientificamerican.com/article/covi...

Canada dropped to 25th place in The World's Happiness report mainly because adults <25 are FAR unhappier

1 in 5 of them rely on food banks

Ontario's response isn't helping.
Happiness starts with a stable roof overhead.

@thestar.com

The sperm of 2 men - a father & son

…was used to create over 600 babies!

Guess who’s losing the evolutionary game?

Iris Gorfinkel: I’m a doctor. Here are five overlooked ways the Ontario government is making our ERs more crowded, not less Until basic needs like housing and nursing shortages are addressed, hallway medicine in Ontario will only get worse.

I’m a doctor. Here are five overlooked ways the Ontario government is making our ERs more crowded, not less, writes @drgorfinkel.bsky.social. #Opinion

5 ONTARIO LAWS FUEL HALLWAY MEDICINE

👨‍⚖️Bill 6 -Punished homelessness
👨‍⚖️Bill 223 -Defunded supervised consumption sites
👨‍⚖️Bill 124 -Capped nurse pay
👨‍⚖️Bill 60 -Expanded for-profit clinics
👨‍⚖️Bill 7 -Neglected alternate care needs

@thestar.com @casinoshiftmd.bsky.social @raghu-venugopal.bsky.social

A much-needed checklist for BETTER HEALING

💜 Hope, love & purpose
🙌 Active participation in care
🙃 Self-love & emotional honesty
🌓 Meditation, visualization & support groups
🕊️ Finding meaning & living fully in uncertain times

...from a cancer surgeon

NEW REPORT FROM STATS CANADA

👉 Since 2014 online child sexual exploitation⬆️347%

What more will it take before Canada holds SOCIAL MEDIA accountable and liable for their content?

Here's my piece in @thestar.com

Iris Gorfinkel: If toys caused this much harm, we’d ban them. Why does social media get a free pass? Parliament should pass Bill C-63 to make clear that profiting from children’s harms is no longer an acceptable business model in Canada. We’ve had enough.

SOCIAL MEDIA is making record profits
..as children, families & educators pay the price.

Companies should be ACCOUNTABLE & LIABLE for the addictive content they host
...including hate, self-harm & bullying.

WHY aren't they?
🧸 🍁 🧸

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... via @torontostar

What scares me is that MEASLES is turning into "old news"

It's one of the most contagious viruses known...& the canary in the coalmine.

Its spread reflects how VULNERABLE we are to other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Each new report is an URGENT CALL TO ACTION

💉💉💉

One in five Canadians over 50 facing material deprivation, survey finds A new national survey suggests a significant share of older Canadians are struggling to meet basic needs, with one in five people aged 50 and older experiencing a standard of living comparable to the ...

CANADIANS OVER 50 - a grim snapshot

57% feel lonely
20% live on the poverty line
11% can't afford dental care

Ref: 2025 National Institute on Ageing - survey of over 6,000 Canadians aged 50+

www.ctvnews.ca/canada/artic...

Opinion: Emergency departments are the lighthouses of our health care system. But the lights are starting to flicker ERs are a safety net for those who lack primary care, have substance use disorders or are unhoused. They are meant to be open every hour of every day, no matter what

CANADIAN ER CLOSURES
-Impacted 1 in 3 ERs since 2019
-Affected every province

DUE to INADEQUATE
-Home care
-Primary care
-Healthcare workers to staff ERs
-Acute beds
-Chronic care / rehab spots

It's why my patients DREAD GOING.

@casinoshiftmd.bsky.social
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

…and so little testing.

On call today seeing a ++HIGH risk patient.

Me: You have COVID-19

Patient: I thought that was over.

Me: It's not.

Social media ban for kids under consideration in online harms bill: Carney PM Carney says that while there should be debate about a social media ban for children, he has not made up his own mind on the issue yet.

SOCIAL MEDIA BAN for Canadian children

Our ALTERNATIVE -
⤴️ Mental health concerns
⤴️ Attention & sleep problems
⤴️ Learning disruptions
⤴️ Cyber-bullying
⤴️ Child exploitation

Australia is moving to a natnl <16 age limit for social media
...so should we.

toronto.citynews.ca/2026/03/06/s...

"Immigrants have kept Canada's health care system standing by delivering critical bedside care," writes Iris Gorfinkel. "Over 1-in-4 family doctors and nearly 1-in-3 pharmacists in Canada were internationally trained in 2022." Mark Adams TNS

We're blaming our overstuffed ERs, excruciating surgery waits and family doctor deserts on exactly the wrong people www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... @drgorfinkel.bsky.social
↷ canadahealthwatch.ca 🍁